I teach English and I write, mostly about horse racing, for the Blood-Horse, New York Breeder, the Saratogian, Hello Race Fans!, Mid-Atlantic Thoroughbred, The Racing Biz, and the Brooklyn Heights Blog. My work has also appeared in the Daily Racing Form, Thoroughbred Times, the New York Daily News, and BelmontStakes.com. A former and erstwhile resident of Saratoga Springs, New York, I’ve lived in Brooklyn for more than a decade, and when I’m not teaching or writing, I’m watching the Rangers at the Garden, playing Scrabble, or rescuing cats.

New York Horsemen 'Take The Lead' In Thoroughbred Retirement

Frisky Cat’s mother wasn’t much of a racehorse, but his sire, Tale of the Cat, was a multiple graded stakes winner, as was his damsire, Dynaformer. It seemed reasonable to expect that Frisky Cat, foaled in 2009, might be a moderate success on the racetrack.

But, not infrequently, even horses with good bloodlines don’t find their way to the winner’s circle often enough to make them a sound investment. Raced and bred by Fox Ridge Farm, Frisky Cat finished 10th in his first race, and his trainer, Pat Kelly, tried everything to get him to win. He ran him short, he ran him long. He ran him on dirt, he ran him on turf. Finally, in his eighth start, Frisky Cat got his first win…which would also be his last.

Last fall, after a seven-month layoff and three more winless races, Frisky Cat had had enough, Kelly decided; it was time for him to find a new job.

“It was better to find a home for him,” said Kelly, “than to try to go too far with him.”

A year ago, it would have been up to Kelly and Fox Ridge Farm to find a home for the retired gelding, not always an easy proposition, especially for a horse that needs some rehabilitation. But as of April 2013, the trainers and owners on the backstretches of New York Racing Association (NYRA) tracks can place their horses in an aftercare program by making a single phone call.

Kelly is a member of the board of directors of the New York Thoroughbred Horsemen’s Association (NYTHA), which last spring launched Take The Lead, a program that partners with a handful of retirement, retraining, and adoption facilities. When a trainer has a horse whose racing days are done, he can call the program’s executive director, Andy Belfiore, or trainer Rick Schosberg, and within days, the horse is on his way to a facility that’s been vetted by the organization.

“It’s a no-brainer,” said Schosberg. “We’re in this business for our pleasure, and these horses give. When you think about a Thoroughbred, from the day they’re born until their last race, all they do is give of themselves, and we need to do our best to take care of them through this process.”

“What we have to realize,” he continued, “is that the process doesn’t end when they’ve run their last race. We have to think of it as you’d think of a pension plan for retirees in the business world.”

The three New York Racing Association tracks—Belmont, Aqueduct, and Saratoga—are among the most competitive in the country; horses unable to compete on the circuit have plenty of opportunities to race and win at smaller tracks around the country, and many of them do: they are claimed or sold and end up racing at places that don’t offer a program like Take The Lead. Among the challenges that the program faces is convincing owners and trainers to retire horses even when they still have some racing left in them.

“Sometimes it’s easier,” Schosberg said, “to send a horse to a much cheaper racing venue and wipe your hands of the situation.”

“I’m not saying that if horses just aren’t fast enough to run here that they can’t run somewhere else,” Schosberg said, “but you don’t want to do the dump and run. That’s what we have to try to head off at the pass.”

Kelly agreed. “You want to get them into the program before something bad happens on the track.”

Owners are expected to offer a $500 donation to the facility to which their horses go, which can actually represent a cost savings, Schosberg pointed out. Keeping a horse in training in New York costs about $3,000 a month, and it’s not uncommon for horses to go several months without winning purse money to help offset those costs. Retiring a horse, even with a donation, can be the financially pragmatic route.

Prospective retirees are seen by a vet before they’re accepted into the program; local veterinarians volunteer their time, and van companies have stepped up to donate free rides to retirement facilities. The money that goes with horses helps to pay the costs of any rehab they might need and of re-training them for their next careers. Both NYTHA and NYRA also contribute to the program.

“That money allows us to do more rehabilitation with horses that need time,” explained Anna Ford, Thoroughbred program director at New Vocations Racehorse Adoption Program, one of the facilities partnering with Take The Lead. “At least half of the horses that come to us need some rehab before we can start working with them.”

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